The Healing
by Tigris Euphrates
Summary: Detective Elisa Maza has been raped and mutilated, and the police blame Xanatos! Could it be Xanatos is not so guilty as he seems? How will affect her relationship with Goliath now that she has been transformed permanently into a gargoyle?


THE HEALING

**_THE HEALING_**

By Tigris Euphrates (ladyoftigris@yahoo.com)

Last time on Gargoyles:

Captain of the Guard: "She's right, Goliath. You deserve better than that."

Goliath: "We are what we are. Her opinion will not change that."

(Awakening, Part I)

Broadway: "I guess I'm just a little worried. If cops were meant to fly, they'd have wings!"

(Her Brother's Keeper)

Goliath: "I never realized when you were human how beautiful you are."

Elisa: "You mean you thought I was ugly?"

(The Mirror)

Goliath: "Elisa... I..."

Elisa: "I know... you're as relieved as I am that things are back to normal." Goliath: "That's not what I was going to say..." Elisa puts a hand to his lips, he turns to stone Elisa: "I know... but that's the way it is."

(The Mirror)

Goliath: "You could have been hurt! I should have been with you."

Elisa: "But you can't, anymore than I can be here guarding you all day long. Everybody's vulnerable, Goliath - but it helps to know somebody cares."

(Eye of the Beholder)

Goliath: "If only we were..."

Elisa: "Shhh..." puts a finger to his mouth "We are what we are."

(The Gathering, Part I)

Goliath: "Elisa's death WILL be avenged." **The sun rises and he turns to stone. After he has turned to stone, we see a lone tear fall from his eye.**

(Hunter's Moon, Part III)

Elisa: "You know how I feel about you, right?"

Goliath: "How we BOTH feel...? Yes..."

Elisa: "Good." **Reaches up and kisses Goliath, the sun rises and he turns to stone, a grin on his face.**

(Hunter's Moon, Part III)

_Looking out_

_from a rooftop_

_a comforting paw_

_rests upon her shoulder_

_naked once again_

_of lavender shade_

_drives away all fears_

_but one_

_and all that is born_

_is a tear._

_ _

_A concussion_

_of light_

_the whirl_

_of wind_

_flying_

_tumbling_

_spinning_

_through the air_

_a sudden retching_

_of the flesh_

_reels the senses_

_in her creation_

_and rebirth._

_ _

_Kneeling_

_upon the floor_

_once more_

_with companions_

_crying her name_

_she stands_

_in a daze_

_a touch_

_never before felt_

_tingling through her shoulders_

_exciting them with energy_

_and the desire to fly_

_to glide_

_upon her wings_

_his touch._

_ _

_For a single moment_

_holding eternity_

_spread upon the wind_

_beneath the velvet of her wings_

_everything is different_

_everything is the same_

_ _

_looking out_

_in her bathrobe_

_without a wink of sleep_

_from her apartment window_

_as the sun rises again_

_a calm memory rises:_

_"I never realized_

_when you were human_

_how beautiful you are."_

_I am human once again_

_have I lost my beauty_

_in your eyes?_

_Is it possible_

_I long to hold you?_

_to hear your voice_

_to be by your side_

_Is it possible_

_myself your Angel_

_with wings of flame_

_and hearts afire_

_might the wind_

_carry us._

_ _

_So far apart now_

_and I_

_a mere mortal woman_

_who loves you._

_ _

_and_

_it can never be_

_real._

_Introduction_

The mirror swirled and from it's depths it pulled forth images of home - places she had known once, but had left behind to start a new chapter in her life. As the twirling images began to coalesce, she thought of one place in particular. She wanted to see Castle Wyvern.

All at once it's parapets and towers were before her view. A full moon shone overhead, and the gargoyles were about. They were upset about something - fear. What were they afraid of?

She saw images of hate - of secret meetings, hooded men, and heard heated words intended to stir up the most base of instincts in people, all for the purpose of inciting them towards hatred of the gargoyles.

HER gargoyles - the ones that protected HER family.

This was definitely not good. Goliath, it seems, had hit some hard times. But she knew Goliath was a worthy warrior - he could weather the onslaught. So, she shifted her gaze. All at once she saw her - Elisa Maza. All at once, the spellcaster realized that Elisa Maza, while being a warrior, was not the kind who would weather this onslaught. She looked deeper at this human woman, and started to notice more - a kiss Elisa and Goliath shared on the parapets, lonely words between them using words like "If only", and of them shedding tears when the other wasn't looking because they knew that their feelings would never, never be more than that.Could a relationship such as the one they held know possibly weather through the storms that were coming? Even the greatest magicians of all time were powerless in the face of the human heart! No... it was impossible... if their relationship were to break apart like branches in the windstorm, the who would hold up the leaves of the clan that protected her family?

She could not allow it to happen.

The spellcaster waved one final hand over the image, and it disappeared. She was determined now - she would have to talk to her man in the field.

_Chapter I_

In the pique of the early morning before dawn, a single figure drifted heavily on the wind. Her wings were torn, blood dripping from her sinuses, a single dirty rag tied over her leg kept the flesh from spilling apart.

This gargoyle was not going to make it to dawn.

In desperation, she pushed northward. A single object on the ground held her attention she concentrated on it. She HAD to make it to the house.

She just barely missed, coming to a roll on the ground in front of the door, tumbling head over heals on the cement patio, coming to rest just before the door.

Weakly, the figure tapped it's claw on the door.

The sound of footsteps was heard inside, and the door opened hesitantly with a creak. "Hello? Anyone there?"

The gargoyle moaned, wincing at the sound.

The man at the door reacted, startled at first, but then became concerned seeing she was so desperately hurt. He looked at the gargoyle's tomboyish clothes - blue denim jeans, black midriff spandex top, and a torn red jacket. The man almost could not believe what he saw.

He took the creature's face in his hands. Underneath blood and tears, it was exactly who he thought it was.

"ELISA?" Peter Maza exclaimed. "What... what happened?"

"Escaped... Xanatos..." she muttered weakly, as Peter tried to lift the massive woman.

"What? Who is it, dad?" Derek's voice came from inside.

"Yes, Peter. What is it?" Diane echoed.

"IT'S ELISA!" Peter called back, "She's hurt badly!" He hesitated to say anything about taking her to a hospital.

Diane and Talon came rushing into the hallway, and gasped simultaneously as they saw her. Peter was struggling with all his might to lift his daughter up, her arm over his shoulder.Elisa clung to her father like glue.

"You're a... a..." They gasped as they saw her, and gasped as they realized she was no longer human. Talon rushed forward and took Elisa's other arm, and began to pull her over the patio into the house.

"What happened?" Diane asked with concern, referring both to her injuries, and to her change in form.

"She said something about Xanatos, and mentioned escaping."

"I thought she told us Xanatos was being friendly to her and the gargoyles again!" Diane announced.

"That's what she said, but I guess it was just a cover for this!" Talon added.

Laboriously, they carried the gargoyle into the livingroom and gently laid her down on the couch leaving a trail of gargoyle blood on the floor. There, her blood pooled, forever staining the upholstry. Cleaning it, however, was Diane's LAST concern at the moment.

"Get me all those ace bandages and some iodine, quickly!" Diane ordered. Talon rushed off to the medical cabinet. "...and get me something to clean these up with!"

Peter coaxed the girl, rubbing her chest like his father taught him long ago. "Com'n Elisa, stay with us, we're all right here. Tell me what happened, now."

"Went... see... guys..."

"You went to visit the gargoyles at Xanatos's castle, right..."

"Talking... genes... machine... supposed... help mankind." Elisa's breath came fitfully and erratically.

"Who was talking about this genetics device?"

"Xanatos..."

"Xanatos? Help people? Unlikely." Talon added snidely.

"I thought... too... told him... show me..."

"Yes?"

"Didn't know... standing on... Xanatos... turned it on..."

Talon swore, "Xanatos is going to die for this! What happened to Goliath and the others...?"

Elisa turned her head, and began to cry. Talon watched with amazement. Elisa NEVER cried! "Goliath... didn't catch me... the machines..."

Peter and his son looked at each other with expressions of incomprehension. Diane, meanwhile, worked vigorously to dress the injuries. "Oh, why can't Beth be here when we need her?"

Elisa groaned, in pain.

"Beth might have an anesthetic in her kit." Peter suggested.

"I'll go check." Talon offered, and ran off again.

The telephone rang.

With frustration and anger, Peter answered it. "Mazas."

"Ah, hello Peter, so nice to talk to you again!"

Peter cursed under his breath, and mouthed the word 'Xanatos' to Diane.

"Listen, you..." Peter began.

"I believe you have something that belongs to me?... A gargoyle perhaps?..."

Peter gathered his anger together, and worded his reply carefully. Talon, seeing the problem, slipped into the other room and pressed a small button on his father' pager. It lit up red. The police were on their way.

"The only gargoyle on the premise is my daughter, you bastard..."

"Yes, Mister Maza, and now she belongs to me. We have patent rights on the experiment."

Peter's jaw worked. "You are going to have to go through us first."

Peter slammed down the phone without waiting for a reply.

"We gotta get her outta here.." Talon said, tossing Peter the pager. "He'll come here to get her."

"Get the stretcher from the attic." Diane nodded.

Elisa was rolled onto her back onto the stretcher, and quickly lifted out of the house, which was locked up behind them.

"Why does this happen every time I visit my kids?" Peter muttered to himself. Already, Peter could here the thrum of the chopper's blades before the spotlight showed hit them.

"That's as far as you go!" the Xanatos Corporate Guardmen shouted from above, leveling their laserguns. The Maza's paused, and stood up before them.

"WE ARE NOT RATS TO BE EXPERIMENTED ON, XANATOS! YOU WILL NEVER HOLD US!" Talon shouted defiantly.

As if on cue, the NYPD chopper came roaring in from the other direction. "THIS IS THE NYPD! LAND NOW, OR RISK SUSPENSION BY THE FAA!"

The Xanatos chopper nearly got away, but another NYPD chopper from the same direction forced them to the ground.

Talon took a piece of Elisa's jacket, and flagged the choppers.

_Chapter II_

1997

The dream betrayed her, and brought memories.

It had been a pleasant afternoon, as mounted the attic stairs of the clocktower. "Hey guys."

"Hey Elisa!" Lexington called back from the clockdoor as he and Brooklyn were turning to leave. "Bye Elisa!"

"Bye Elisa!" Brooklyn echoed, waving, and they left.

"What's happenin'?" Broadway added.

With her hands in her jacket pockets, she looked over at Goliath. "Bad news, I'm afraid. I think Demona may be back."

"Good thing Brooklyn's already left for patrol." Goliath scowled. "What is her plan now?"

"I'm not sure yet, but somebody turned over a library over on 11th looking up information about antique mirrors. The description of the place sounded a lot like her style."

"What was she looking for?" Broadway inquired, placing a paw to his chin thoughtfully.

"She made off with a page out of an old antique's collector guide about an old mirror called 'Titania's Mirror'." Elisa said, trying to remember the jumbled half-description the depressed file clerk had given her. "It's kept at that Museum in the park by Cleopatra's Needle."

There was a sudden growl from Goliath. 

"What? You know of it?"

"I know that it would be a deadly mistake to allow her to have it." Goliath grumbled.

"Alright. I tracked this thing down, it's the park museum. I've already agreed to meet the manager tonight. I'm thinking a little undercover job could be in order."

Goliath was already moving in the direction of the door.

"Hey! What's the big rush! I'm not sure he's ready to meet gargoyles yet. Let me handle Demona this time."

"No. I must handle this. Demona wants to kill you, and I will not let her."

"Fine." Elisa gave in. "But I can take care of myself."

2013

The sun had set, and the panther roared.

The world spun dizzily and her eyes hurt, but Elisa decided that perhaps it was best not to try and open them yet. She moaned, and leaned to one side.

"Elisa!"

"You're awake!"

"Thank the Lord!"

The voices of her family stirred some comfort in her mind. "Wh... where am I?"

The walls of the hospital were unfamiliar for a moment, but all the time she'd been spent there after being shot suddenly kicked in, and she remembered. Sure enough, there was Doctor Sato off to one side, looking as bewildered as ever. She didn't even hear her family's answer.

"Am I still...?" she was almost afraid to ask.

Raising her hand to her face, all she saw was dull red-orange skin with four talons, reminding her of Delilah's dark tan when Elisa had met her in the labyrinth...

Derek...

Her cat-morph brother looked down on her from her bedside as he always had. Elisa felt him take her paw in his. "It'll be alright..."

Then Elisa was crying again.

Like heck it was alright! The last time this had happened, it hadn't hurt this much! It had been a simple, blessed switchover that left her innocent of the change. And Goliath...? What had she said? That's the way it is. It wasn't anymore! What was she supposed to do this time? She'd barely understood it last time! She had lied—human had not been the only way it would be if she stayed this way... 

"This isn't right... I can't be this way... I'm not supposed to be this way..." Elisa moaned.

Derek swallowed hard. He remembered all too well giving those same pleas to Xanatos.

A cure? Elisa knew it was hopeless - Derek had never been cured. The delusion of a cure was a ploy to keep Derek where Xanatos had wanted him. Even if we did find a cure... Elisa knew it wouldn't make that pain go away—at least the one in her head, but not the one in her heart. Being back in this form again hurt in a way she couldn't describe, like it was killing her from the inside. Only when she changed back this pain would remain. Why? Why did she hate the idea so much of her being a gargoyle?

Derek looked with large glassy eyes at Diane and Peter. There had to be something. Their eyes were large and hopeful... but they lacked any idea what to do, except perhaps murdering Xanatos themselves.

It was Goliath, Elisa realized. Why would she feel this way? Not if she had to stay like this forever...

It was hard for Derek to see her cry. Derek couldn't stand seeing her cry. Elisa never cried, blast it all!

"Her system is very unstable, and probably still recovering from the shock..." Doctor Sato was saying, but Derek hardly heard.

"Yes, Elisa. I will find you a cure." Derek replied gruffly, a dark expression crossing his face. Leaving her paw by her side, he quickly gathered his wings and leapt from the window.

"Oh jalapeña..." Elisa thought amidst alien tears of confusion. "What have I done?"

Angela awoke beneath Goliath on the rim of the tower, and together they gathered on the top. Bronx bounded up the stairs, and Hudson settled to the tower floor to pet him.

Owen Burnette was standing there, looking as straight and uncaring as ever. Goliath faced him. "Yes?"

"I'm afraid I have some grave news."

Goliath remained unruffled. "What is it?"

"Detective Maza was somehow attacked yesterday. They are still working to determine exactly what happened, but the Detective is currently at Manhattan General, and possibly awake by now - assuming she lived through the night."

Goliath was immediately upon the balustrade and gliding away. The other gargoyles followed with a rush of feet and wing.

1997

The dream came again.

Somehow she hadn't been able to imagine it. What had she been thinking? That she and

Goliath could possibly be together? All that had happened last night, and she had hoped to get a halfway decent night's rest.

Well, just a little while Elisa told herself, no longer.

Slipping out of bed, she looked out the window. Momentarily, she wished the gargoyles stayed on her apartment ledge so that she could look at them as the day passed.

The feeling... it had been protective...yes... she remembered she had felt protective. Of what? Of Goliath? No, of Manhattan... her city, her territory...

Elisa shook her head. She still did not understand it. How had she thought something so insane as being a gargoyle all her life? She had thought she was saying "human", but it had come out wrong! Everything had gone crazy last night. Still, Elisa couldn't deny she loved it. So what if Demona wanted to kill her? She'd tried that a long time ago. Elisa had beaten her up!With her own two hands... paws... whatever. But, it was over now.

Elisa remembered thinking of Goliath, feeling for him? He was a gargoyle. She was a gargoyle. No problem, she had thought. What had she been thinking? That wasn't what she wanted out of life, she wasn't romantic! She had no innocence now.

Not to mention how impossible it was.

"I never realized... when you were human... how beautiful you are..." he had said. As hard as she tried, her pride couldn't knock down or explain why Goliath had said that.

Was it possible that he had feelings for her...?

Jalapeña, then what was she then? Some ugly little animal for him to rescue from the clutches of Demona every once in a while? A play thing, even?

Elisa clamped down on that train of thought, and closed her eyes.

Am I ugly now?

A tear escaped her eye.

Elisa looked out at the sun, hanging above her window, reminding her that she needed to get some more sleep.

Her sun... the one Goliath would never see... that they would never share...?

"Stop it! It's over now!" Elisa rebuked herself.

...but the feeling remained.

_Chapter III_

2013 

There were a lot of police cars and fire vehicles surrounding the Aerie Building. Probably due to the flames billowing out of the third level, just above the street. Police rushed with a man in handcuffs.

"Listen to me! I had nothing to do with it!" David Xanatos struggled in the handcuffs as the door of the car was closed on him once more. On the street, hundreds of employees, and a mother and son stood in tears, on the street, watching in agony as their husband and father was being taken away... Fox and baby Alexander.

Derek thought he saw through it. Nice show. I'm sure you have the police force totally fooled, Xanatos. Look at you, in cuffs once more. The only better place for you is dead.

Hiding on one of the pylons by a darkened window, Derek listened to the news reporter standing out front.

"...that David Xanatos brutally beat and raped police Detective Elisa Maza. Although the police refuse to give details, eye witnesses, and an amateur video shows a gargoyle looking like police Detective Elisa Maza crashing through the glass ahead of the fire still blazing now, a day later. There is no word as to the Detective's condition. Police Chief Maria Chavez of Maza's 23rd Precinct that, quote, 'NO ONE HITS A COP IN NEW YORK, AND GETS AWAY WITH IT.' David Xanatos will be sent before the Grand Jury on..."

That was all Derek needed to hear.

David Xanatos looked out with a fearful expression at Alex and Fox... wondering what was about to happen to his son...!

Matt Bluestone had never imagined he'd ever see Elisa Maza in this kind of mood. Her arms were under the hospital blanket, her wings underneath and out of sight, trying to make her current predicament the least visual as she could.

"Could you do me a favor, Matt?" Elisa asked in a small voice, as though it meant swallowing her pride.

"Sure! What is it?"

"Keep Goliath away from me... for now..."

Matt paused. "Why...?"

"I... ... …want him to be working on Xanatos."

"Don't lie to me." He didn't buy it - it sounded like a line to him. Matt shook his head.

"You're afraid of him, aren't you?"

"I am not, I'm just..."

"You're afraid to admit it, too."

A red look appeared in Elisa's eyes, and if Matt hadn't ever seen it before, he would have been frightened. "You have a real habit of trying to read me, don't you?"

"I'm a detective. Can you blame me?" Elisa growled. Matt backed off. "Alright... alright... I'll keep Goliath busy." 'What on earth is wrong with her?' Matt thought.

"But why?" Goliath's concern overshadowed his usually straight demeanor. "Is it Xanatos?"

"It might be that."

Angela looked down at the rooftop introspectively. "I think she liked being human."

Goliath turned to his daughter, who met his gaze with a sad expression. "Elisa...? The one person in the world who had all the reason to hate being human? Who kept talking about all the scum of the earth she keeps bringing in and wind up back on the streets in a week? Why?"

"It might be that she was more proud of being human." Matt Bluestone sighed. "She once confided in me that she felt special having Gargoyles for her friends. It made her feel needed in the world."

Angela sighed. "And now someone has taken that away."

"Who knows what else they did to her. It could have been pretty traumatic..." Matt began to ramble. "If the doctor's report was correct - that she was raped..."

Goliath's wings suddenly went taught with a snap. "Angela, Lexington—you two stay and watch over Elisa. Bluestone—what about Xanatos?"

"He's being held without bail for trial. He's still pleading innocence."

Goliath said nothing for a long moment. "I wanted to believe what he said."

"Should we leave the castle?" Hudson asked with disappointment. Bronx whined.

"What're they gonna do with Xanatos gone? Turn us into humans or something?"

Brooklyn quipped.

Goliath shook his head. "We're not leaving again... not unless there is real danger there."

Angela looked across the night sky at the hospital where Elisa slept. Goliath wished he knew what she was thinking, let alone what she was feeling. "Angela, talk to Elisa." Goliath told her, holding her shoulders. "Tell her she is still needed... by all of us."

The gargoyles all nodded in assent, and Bluestone smiled.

"If she'll listen to anyone, it would be you." Bluestone told Angela, as she drifted off into the night.

"That's everything he said?" Elisa asked with anxiety.

Angela nodded. The lights were out, and Elisa was supposed to be sleeping. Angela had found her lying awake restlessly. Angela was glad Doctor Sato was not around—he could treat a woman turned into a gargoyle, but who could tell how he would react to a real gargoyle since the destruction of the clocktower, the Quarrymen riots, the Phoenix Rising bombings...?

Elisa sighed. "He's hurt, isn't he?" Her gaze flickered to the window.

Angela seated herself in one corner. "I don't know, but father was very worried."

"What am I going to say to him?"

"The whole truth is what is needed right now."

"That it hurts to think about being a gargoyle for the rest of my life? What will he think about that? Won't he be offended?"

"He will understand. He knows who you are deep down."

"I'm... not a gargoyle."

"You are Elisa Maza. Who you appear to be does not matter - you are always Eliza Maza." The young gargoyle female spoke with a lot of very adult intelligence.

The dark room was silent for a long time, and Angela just watched the figure lying in the bed for some hint as to her feeling, almost as though if Angela watched her long enough, she could tell what Elisa was thinking.

"I guess I'm just afraid."

"Of being a gargoyle?"

"Of Goliath... I always thought 'No, it could never be real—itUSMe and Goliath can never happen.' So I wouldn't let myself think it could ever happen. Then Puck turned me into a gargoyle, and under that spell I had no idea that there could be anything wrong with thinking that Goliath and I could be... in love."

Angela drew a breath at those words. Elisa had long danced around the issue. She and Goliath spent more and more time alone, talking in low voices, holding one another, constantly in a hurry to see the other again whenever they were apart. This, however, must have been the first time Angela had actually heard Elisa say the words. "And Demona..." Elisa added.

"My mother." Angela echoed.

"She still hates me... if she knew I'd stolen her lover..."

"Princess Katharine always told us Gargoyles mated for life. Goliath would still be a husband."

Elisa sighed. "I envy you, Angela."

"Me? Why?"

"Because you grew up with the good guys. I've spent my whole life trying to nail one dirt bag after another. Humans were the always the enemy—I could never trust any of them. You grew up with so many people you could trust..."

"You can trust Goliath."

"Can I? He's violent, hot tempered, short fused... a bomb waiting to go off..."

"A leader, poet, dreamer..."

"A romantic." Elisa concluded.

Angela couldn't answer.

Elisa's tail twitched - a nervous action which once again reminded her of her changed state. She sat up in bed, looking at Angela. "What do you think I should do?"

"I cannot advise you."

"Do you want me as your stepmother?"

Angela's head turned to one side. Elisa guessed Angela had never considered the possibility. "And if Demona reforms, and finds you've come between Goliath and her?"

Angela turned away from Elisa, looking steadfastly out the window, avoiding Elisa's eyes. Elisa slid back down onto the bed. "The last thing I want to do is make things worse."

Angela, frustrated, stood up, and prowled by the window. "What is it you want, Elisa? Isn't there something you want?"

Elisa thought for a long moment. "I... always want to be there for the gargoyles."

"What do you want us to do for you? This is your time of need, and the others are concerned about our clanmate. You told Bluestone that you want Goliath working on Xanatos - but is that really what this is about?" Elisa looked away. Now she could not answer aloud. "We can deal with Demona when it is necessary. You must learn to grow, Elisa. Become more yourself now." Angela spread her arms, trying to convey her point. "If this is a permanent change, then you must learn to become Elisa Maza again."

"I'm human, Angela."

"No, you are Elisa Maza."

"You're sound more and more like your father, do you know that?"

"Stop changing the subject! What do you want from Goliath?"

Elisa turned away. Angela, agitated, sat down again. However, in several moments,

Angela heard a muffled sound from Elisa's bed. Angela walked to that side, folding her wings about her. Elisa's eyes were stinging and her face had a tear on it.

"What is it?"

"I don't want to be the only person I can trust. I don't want to be alone. When he's around I'm never alone..."

"You love him. That's more than Goliath can say about my mother."

Elisa paused, not speaking again. "Is it that obvious?"

Angela smiled, and hugged Elisa. "Yes."

Goliath was poised on the parapets when Elisa hobbled up the stairs on crutches...

AGAIN - only this time with wings and a tail.

"If you need anything else, Ms. Maza..."

"Thanks for your help, Mr. Burnette."

Goliath turned around, to see the determined Elisa Maza work her way up the steps on a pair of crutches—perhaps a rather comical sight to anyone else, to see a gargoyle hobbling on crutches. Goliath turned around, with a face of surprise.

"Are you alright, Elisa?" he asked.

"Doctor Sato says that at the rate I'm going, I should be back to normal after another day's stone sleep—if you could call this normal. We need to talk."

"Yes, yes we do. Will you be alright?"

"Look, Derek's out there going after Xanatos, determined to find me a cure."

"If he found one, would you take it?"

Elisa brushed a bit of hair out of her eyes from the climb. "Let's be honest for a moment, Goliath - about you and me, about humans and gargoyles. I wanted Puck to just keep us both human, but I knew that would make you unhappy."

"If I were human I could not protect you from Demona. I think you are right - I would not be happy as a human in any case."

Elisa smiled. Something about the straight way he said it made her laugh. "What would you do if I stayed this way?"

Goliath spontaneously picked up Elisa in his arms like he used to, causing Elisa to forget the crutches on the stone floor of the tower. "Yikes... What about Xanatos? He's still in jail. I think... I think Derek's after him..."

"The same thing we've always done. We continue on, just like we did before." Goliath spread his wings, and swept off into space with Elisa in his arms.

Elisa sighed to herself. 'We always seem to make these things work out.'

_Chapter IV_

Once again, the dreaming time had betrayed her.

Elisa remembered trying to cry out. She was engulfed in liquid - it was boiling hot, and scalding against her skin. She fought for breath until the device forcefully slapped across her mouth began to force air into her lungs.

Then it began. The first diode, attached to a small, snakelike metal wire, made a rushing noise in the water and implanted itself inside her ankle. She howled in pain at the pain. Then another attached itself to her other ankle. Elisa floundered in the water, moving to swipe to blasted wires and get them out of her, when suddenly she began feeling more of them, in her back, in her stomach, in her neck, under her arms, and finally in her head, attaching to every major vein in her body they could reach. Some kind of electrical device was attached to her head, rooted in the base of her skull, and there was a shooting pain in the back of her head.

There was a very large tube connected to her arm, pumping something into her. There was some sort of foul tasting chemical in the water. The water became cloudy with it - it stung at her eyes. She felt herself burning up in the hot gelatin-like liquid. She became dazed, half coherent. She fought to keep conscious. The temperature thankfully was dropping. Occasionally she heard the sound of cloth tearing in the water-like liquid, and thought of the little wires tearing her clothes apart. Slowly, she fought for more strength, more awareness, struggling against the beckoning of the darkness.

Then something happened. Somewhere, outside, an Alarm Klaxon could be heard. She became conscious of a new, stinging pain in her arm, and realized it was no longer attached to the diode and bleeding into the vat. She struggled more, and managed to tear the second arm device out of her skin, bathing her in a soup that was darkened with her own blood.

Realization came to her she could break free! Then, she did something she had never done before. She pushed against the water with her wings. The sudden force pulled the other diodes free, tearing their way out of her flesh. She emerged above the surface of the nutrient bath, sputtering and coughing.

No sooner had she cleared her vision, than a laser bolt shot past her head. She ducked down. Another bolt impacted the glass of the chamber. It began to leak out the hole. Elisa began to beat against that hole with determination, breaking it apart, making it bigger. Finally, the entire casing fell apart, and Elisa landed on the floor in a heap of broken glass, fluid, and her own blood from where the diodes had torn her skin, and the breaking glass had cut her.

There were more security guards taking shots at her. Suddenly, she felt her eyes fill with flame, but she could still see clearly. Racing forward, she took out two guards before making a mad dash for the nearest way out. She found herself in a corridor, as blood and bio-chemicals dribbled down all over the floor.

She spied a window in this part of the hallway.

The succession bangs announced gunmen firing bullets at her. She dodged some, but felt several hit her. She was not fast enough to get out of their way. She made a mad dash for that window.

"DON'T HURT MY CREATION, YOU FOOLS!" a voice echoed down the hall. Elisa wondered if it sounded like Anton Sevarius before she dived through the window.

Instinctually, she opened her wings, and began to glide.

SHE HAD WINGS!

She looked at the glass windows of Xanatos's office building. Reflected by moonlight was the feline shape of a gargoyle with her face.

Elisa screamed in horror.

The table was not meant to be that of a war room conference table, but that's what it felt like to Dr. Sato as he adjusted the slideshow and checked the lights. He was on display in front of Detective Bluestone and Police Captain Maria Chavez. The victim's family was also there, Detective Peter Maza and Diane Maza, as well as the hulking feline form of Derek Maza, or Talon. They were all waiting for Dr. Sato to give them answers. Answers which he... simply didn't have.

Rubbing his glasses on his lab coat, he began. "I...I really don't have anything to tell you, except that it appears she has stabilized, we were able to help her make it until dawn, and thanks to the remarkable rejuvenating effect of her daylight-hibernation she will pull through. Stone-sleep appears to be the only sleep she's getting, as any other sleep is too troubled to be of much good for healing." He paused, in the depth of his humiliation. "I have called on a specialist, someone who I knew personally would keep the tight security of this case." he said. Turning, he opened the door to the room once again, admitting a slim young woman of no more than Beth Maza's age. She had long, wiry brown hair and a perky but cynical disposition. "This is Grace Robbins, a graduate-assistant from the university. Her major was in experimental human genetics, and seems to have some... personal interest in the case."

She nodded to Dr. Sato, and turned the lights down, and began to run the slideshow."Most of my work has been done with the theory of using the human immune system to implement a genetic change. Our bodies defend us from diseases using lymphocites and other specialized cells to destroy infections. The way these cells determine what is a hostile disease, and what is a benign cell that belongs in the body is simple - if it belongs in the body, it carries the body's genetic code. If it is hostile, it does not."

The two police officers and the Maza family all nodded that they understood. Ms.

Robbins went on, using a small laser to point to the screen where the slides were displayed.

"This photograph is of a normal, healthy lymphatic cell., taken from Detective Maza's blood. There are no signs of her immune system fighting any kind of foreign organism, nor has it in the past for several months since the Detective last had a flu, besides the normal flim-flam of everyday living. This is very unusual. The traditional technique for genetically manipulating a human being or an animal is to introduce a home-made virus, if you will, into a person's body, and cultivating it. These custom made retroviruses will infect the body's cells with new genetic material, but unlike a naturally evolved virus, it will not attempt to destroy the cell, and will die out without outside intervention."

"So what your saying," Matt Bluestone deduced, "Is that she was changed by something not presently known to science."

"That's correct, detective, but it is not beyond the bounds of scientific explanation. It appears that whatever happened to the Detective could very well have been a natural function of her body's immune system, like the type of theory I have been developing. How? I don't know.Why aren't other people affected? I don't know."

"Is it contagious?" Diane inquired.

"Have any of you felt any urges to jump off rooftops or turn to stone during the day?"

Grace asked, smiling.

Derek was not amused, and pointed a talon at the young assistant. "I cannot believe that her body just suddenly decided to change itself. Something happened to her, we know that."

"I agree, but I'm still working on the details. Let's try and look at the bigger picture here what on earth could cause a person's body to suddenly start to go through this kind of human-to-gargoyle metamorphosis completely on it's own? And why a gargoyle? Why didn't she become a felinoid like her brother, for example?"

"Why indeed?" Peter agreed, brushing his chin thoughtfully.

Grace turned the lights back on, brushing a loch of hair out of her eyes.

"Mom?" Elisa's voice still wavered a little, but it was sounded a lot more hale now.Diane took her daughter's hand, remembering the warm, leathery feel of Angela's paw back in Nigeria.

"Elisa, how do you feel?"

"Pretty good for a cop who got pounded on." she replied with her usual wry sarcasm she had picked up after so many years of being a police detective.

"They are trying to use all this... science to help you." Diane interjected. "These friends of yours are magical creatures. Could all that magic have touched you somehow? I saw two people turn into panthers with my own eyes, and my own son..." She tried not to look at Derek.

"I don't know mom, but I've heard what they're saying - that my body did this all by itself. You can't believe that." Elisa replied angrily. "I heard Sevarius's voice!"

"Sevarius!" Derek exclaimed, infuriated. "How can he still be alive?"

"Huh! I sometime wonder how I've managed to survive." Elisa thought aloud, bitterly.

Matt Bluestone, however, had a far more introspective look on his face, leaning against the doorpost, rubbing his head. His red hair had been mused up for his visit to Elisa in the hospital. "I admit that Xanatos and Sevarius are great suspects, but they're not the ONLY suspects."

Elisa sat up in bed. "Who else has messed with genetics?"

"Dominique Destine." Captain Chavez, who had been listening from the doorway, answered professionally, holding open a manila folder. She handed it to Peter Maza, who looked at her mug shot, and her rap sheet. "Anton Sevarius has been under her employment for quite a while, it seems - even through the present time. She's been paying him quite a considerable sum of money."

"She created the clones..." Talon observed.

"And the plague virus she was going to use to wipe out humanity." Bluestone added.

"The one we brought back from the Cathedral Battle."

"Demona!" Elisa exclaimed. "It's got to be her doing!"

"That's crazy, sis." Talon argued with her. "She's hated you for years now, and thinks of gargoyles as some kind of superior race! Remember the last time this happened...?"

"Thailog died in the clone wars, and Anton's been working for who ever will pay him - take that Maddox Company, for example. Until you've investigated Dominique Destine, there's nothing the Grand Jury can do with Xanatos." Chavez closed the manilla folder.

"Just let me talk to Xanatos!" Talon replied.

David Xanatos had one chance to visit his family, Fox, and Alexander. When he was told Elisa wanted to see him, he accepted. With Goliath and Angela at her side, Elisa was collected, glad to finally be away from the her hospital bed. David was handcuffed behind his back, and around his ankles.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY PROOF THAT YOU COULD SHOW ME, XANATOS!" Elisa scream irately, half on the verge of tears. "I SAW YOU! I HEARD You!"

"What you saw was a lie, detective! All I want to do is prove it to you!" David protested hotly. The security guards were getting itchy, unsure if they should attack Xanatos or Elisa. "We were making a homevideo of Alexander, and there's a timestamp on it that shows I wasn't there."

Elisa snarled, grabbing the man's collar, and looked about to do something highly vicious when suddenly Fox interposed herself between them. "STOP!" Elisa felt Angela's paw on her shoulder. "Elisa, stop. If you hurt him, you become just as guilty as Demona. Not when he is determined to prove himself to you."

Elisa, eyes aflame and burning red, flared her wings. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT! I'm sure he could find somebody that can tell me the president himself organized this conspiracy!ALL I WANT IS JUSTICE! JUSTICE FOR WHAT HE DID TO ME, WHAT HE DID TO DEREK! ALL FOR HIS PETTY LITTLE WISHES!"

Then Goliath was beside her, leading her away. "You don't want justice anymore, Elisa. You want revenge. Listen to yourself. Is this anger the voice of Elisa Maza, or of someone else?"

Elisa sputtered, and finally broke. She covered her face in her hands, trembling. After a moment, she looked up at Goliath. "But I'm not Elisa Maza anymore, Goliath. I'm a gargoyle and gargoyles don't have names." she looked at the floor with a very forlorn expression, eyes stinging with tears.

There were several long moments as Goliath held her, and David stared at the floor morosely. "While I was away in Paris, someone broke into the computer network. Lab 14 had been shut down for a year or so, but they brought it back to life. A lookalike android that I designed was the man you met with the night of crime. All the rest of the guardsmen were just obeying what they thought were genuine orders. Sevarious is not even on the payroll, and hasn't been for years. I think it was a tape recording - or an impersonation."

"Judging by the remains of the equipment they left, they have developed some kind of technique that just stinks of Sevarious." Fox snorted. "He was able to determine the exact genetic differences between a human and a gargoyle, additional sequences to add to your DNA. You still retain all the qualities you had before, your face, voice, fingerprint, everything that was uniquely you."

"Except my very identity!" Elisa protested. "I can't even have children anymore! I have been robbed of myself! Raped!"

"You can have children, at least until you hit menopause. Whoever designed this program, they solved the problem of previous genetics experiments. This person was a genius." Fox said. "The only geneticist I know with that kind of brilliance is Sevarius." Goliath and Elisa looked at each other.Elisa's expression was puzzled. Fox continued, "We think it had something to do with the level of this genetic manipulation. He convinced your immune system that your DNA was supposed to be this way, and your own body made the changes, with some help from the accelerated growth factor he uses to grow his clones."

"Why would Sevarius want to attack her?" Goliath cut in.

Angela nodded. "I remember hearing him rant and rave about the creature farm he wanted to create. I think that Elisa was just another victim in a long line of experiments before some final goal. It's possible Elisa tried to kill him one too many times for his taste."

"Goal?"

"To use subservient humans to become the creatures he wants, and then masquerade them like pets." David suggested. "I've ordered all of my resources to find out what happened that night."

"According to the information they gleaned," Fox cut in. "The technique he used did not use the standard retrovirus technique of delivering the changes. That would have taken too long.He introduced a virus to your body, that ate away your immune system like an AIDS virus, but instead of making more viruses, the captured cells made more white blood cells of the new gargoyle code. The virus died out, but the new white blood cells took over the old and it was all natural from there on out. This virus could be released onto the world if made to be passed in the air."

"A weapon?" Goliath surmised.

"A possibility, but why would someone want to turn humans into gargoyles?"

"We need to keep Elisa under guard. If he wants to make an example of her before the world, we need to keep her protected." Goliath announced. "He'll not use her to threaten us."

"You are NOT going to lock me up again! I can take care of myself!" she protested hotly.

However, all it took was one look from Goliath, and all her determination wilted.

_Chapter V_

News travels quickly in the Big Apple. The following night, the gargoyles had not been awake an hour, when the automatic defense guns activated, firing at a bat-winged figure, closing in on the castle. It fired back, damaging the defense guns. Goliath took to the air, to confront their attacker.

The panther scream was heard as Demona closed in for her attack.

"Why do you bother us again, Demona? Do you really want to risk injury to our daughter again?"

"I am not here to make war against you Goliath, not this night. I come in response to the outrageous accusation that I could have been responsible for Detective Maza's beating! The wretched human deserved every blow...!" Demona was suddenly silenced, when Elisa rose up and stood atop the balustrade, and Demon's face visibly paled.

"Oh why not, Demona? You're the one who transformed me last time!"

Demona snarled furiously. Landing on the tower in front of Elisa, the laser weapon pointed at her chest. Elisa did not flinch. Goliath landed beside the two females, to separate them. The rest of the clan, alerted by the weaponsfire came running and surrounded them."WRETCHED HUMAN! Why is it you always defile our very bodies?"

"Hey, this wasn't my idea." she returned. "You've got the means..."

Demona laughed. "But I lack the motive. You do not deserve the be one of us! The last thing I would want!"

"I'll be sure to tell the Grand Jury that you've entered a 'Not Guilty' plea."

Goliath realized that the two gargoyle females were about to come to blows, Goliath broke them apart. "ENOUGH! Elisa, Demona would not have risked a confrontation that might have injured our daughter unless this was important to her. Demona, if you are so quicky to claim your innocence, then prove it to us by finding the real culprit."

Demona roared catlike fury. After a moment, she turned to Elisa and concluded, "It's too complicated to be an outside job, your perpetrator is on the inside."

"But Anton was on your payroll!" Elisa retorted.

"But I don't build lifelike human robots. It had to be Xanatos himself!"

"Spoken like a true detective." Came a new voice. The gargoyles on the tower turned to see a pillar of light coalesced atop one of the balastraudes to form none other than the graceful green skinned figure of the queen of the fair folks herself. Elisa Maza reacted by pulling out her sidearm, causing the queen to flinch, but Goliath put a hand on the weapon, holding her hands down.

"Titania." Goliath breathed. "So you're the one behind this."

"I only want the protection of my daughter and her family, and it is this clan which protects them. My grandson was in danger because a member of that clan was in danger. I couldn't allow that to happen." she explained.

"How was she in danger? Your changing of Elisa Maza endangered your grandson."

Goliath pointed out. "By causing his father to be taken to prison."

"The one who caused my son in law to be put in jail has already seen to his release." she smiled, gesturing towards the stairs that exited onto the tower. From the stairs stepped Owen Burnett and David Xanatos himself. Elisa's eyes broiled, as she was about to rush forward and attack the rich business man, until Goliath once again had to stop her.

"Owen?" Goliath inquired, turning back to Titania.

"Not exactly." she replied, looking back at David's majordomo.

There was a twinkling of energy, and Owen disappeared, and was replaced by Puck.

Elisa stood upright. "I think I get it. I know how Puck loves to impersonate people, and the Xanatos I saw was probably no more than Puck in disguise. But why not use magic - like you did before?"

"Me? Do the things the same way twice? That's so... uncooth!" he almost laughed, waving her question off. "I couldn't do things the same way twice if my life DEPENDED on it!"

"The police reported a beating and a rape. I couldn't imagine Puck would be capable of..." Brooklyn thought aloud.

"I could - but I didn't. That was all the machine Owen had built to complete the project.

The police are going to go after Anton Sevarius on this one!" he laughed this time.

"What?!!!" Demona raged. "I need him!"

"It wasn't hard to do. Owen discovered Demona was paying Sevarius to implant the detective with a slightly different disease, this one intended to kill her, and so I simply gave the research to Captain Chavez. That's how I got Xanatos released." Puck smiled a beaming face at the queen.

"You fool! I paid him for that job! I was the only one who knew about it! He'll come after me now!" Demona raged at Puck, eyes aglow. She leapt for Puck, who just whizzed out of the way.

"Precisely. I owed you one." Puck replied with an evil tone.

Demona snarled in rage one last time, before leaping into the space beyond the parapets.

Goliath looked after Demona for a moment, and sighed, turning to Puck. "I owe you my thanks for protecting Elisa from Demona."

Elisa looked a little crestfallen, but turned to Xanatos. "I was wrong about you this time, Xanatos. I admit that. But you can't expect me to forgive you for the past."

David nodded. "Thank you, Detective. I hope I can earn your trust."

"Like we haven't heard that before." Brooklyn muttered.

"You are essential to this clan, Elisa Maza." Titania's voice broke in. "I will not let anything jeopardize my family, and so I will be watching over this clan. You must learn to overcome your distrust and anger, and learn to forgive."

Elisa said nothing, but her jaw worked. "Fine." she turned to Puck. "Will you return me to my proper form?" Goliath could not decide if it was a request or a demand.

"You'd better ask her." he said flatly, gesturing back to Titania.

"I ordered your transformation, and only if you learn to forgive will I consider your request, for your anger and distrust is a distortion which you will now wear."

Elisa jerked back a little at this comment, and one could see a light fill her eye. She turned to Goliath. She walked up to him, and put one paw aside his face, a smile crossing her face. "But they aren't distortions... gargoyles are beautiful things, if you know where to look."

"Then start looking closer at Xanatos," Titania smiled, nodding and placing her hands over her hand. As she began to shimmer and vanish, the words lingered, "...and at yourself."

Elisa Maza was never a heavy coffee drinker like many of her fellow police officers who often spent an hour before work at the Starbucks Coffee shop on the corner and bringing them into work. but she would always make exceptions for the taste of a mocha frappacino. It had something to with the chocolate and estrogen, her combined ancestry, or just being a gargoyle at the moment. Broadway had produced them in the middle of their conversation, and then left the room once again.

Goliath, David Xanatos, and the gargoyle that was Elisa Maza sat in a circle of chairs facing one another. "I don't get it. The time frame doesn't match. Would Puck - as Owen - have needed weeks to build this machine, or did Puck just wave his hand and it appeared?"

"Lab 14 was anything but closed, detective. Remember all those projects like the Steel Clan and Thailog? Well, the goal was to create my own clan of gargoyles to guard the castle after..." Xanatos motioned at Goliath. "...your clan left here. But then the plan changed. I was angry about being put in jail, and while I rotted in jail, I wanted to be a gargoyle, and be able to fight back against Goliath."

"I thought you always said revenge was a suckers game." Elisa asked incredulously.

"It was just words... until Fox and I started seeing eachother. I arranged with Anton to design the mutagenic formula that transformed Derek because I wanted to be a gargoyle, but I wanted to make sure it got tested before I used it, so I drew Derek in to transform him and get revenge on you for throwing me into prison."

Elisa's jaw was set. "Then I got what you wanted? Why don't you go rebuild that machine so you can try it yourself?" she snarled angrily.

"Because my son needs a father." he sighed, holding a hand out to her. "Truce?"

Elisa sighed in frustration, looking pleadingly at Goliath. Goliath was impassive. Elisa sputtered for a moment, and finally gave up. "Fine, truce." she grumbled, neither looking at Xanatos, nor taking his hand. "But this doesn't mean I'm going to trust you."

Near sunrise, Elisa found Goliath staring out into the night thoughtfully. She found herself putting her hands on his shoulder. "I just got off the phone with Captain Chavez."

"What did you tell her?"

"That I'm someplace safe, but I couldn't afford to tell anyone where, what with the danger of Quarrymen and all that. She agreed. She managed to put me on disability leave, and fortunately working for the county gives great medical benefits."

Goliath nodded, then turned to face the former human woman. "Do you trust me?"

"I don't trust anyone, Goliath." Goliath looked at her, long and hard. Feeling guilty, Elisa added, "...but I trust you more than Xanatos."

Goliath gently took her chin in his hand. The other were gathering below them, awaiting the sunrise. Angela happened to pause and look up at them for one moment as the sun rose, and happened to see Goliath pull Elisa into a kiss before the stone sleep claimed them all.


End file.
